The year that was 2014 in Canada was marked by huge political stories at home and horrifying tragedies abroad.
Here’s a look back at some of the biggest newsmakers of the year, in no particular order.
An Instagram photo of Cpl. Cirillo.
Let’s not remember the Ottawa shooting for the gunman who sought infamy, but for the dog-loving Canadian who gave his life while standing on guard for a symbol of our national freedom and democracy.
Alison Redford… and Danielle Smith
In this still from television online video, Alberta Premier Alison Redford announces her resignation as provincial premier at a press conference in Edmonton on Wednesday, March 19, 2014.
When I started writing this list, the biggest scandal in politics this year was former Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s Skypalace and related spending scandals. Then Danielle Smith and a sizable chunk of the Wildrose opposition caucus crossed the floor this week to the governing Progressive Conservatives.
Dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford testifies at a Senate committee looking into the Conservative government’s prostitution bill. CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand
The Conservative government’s Bill C-36 has imposed new laws on Canadian sex workers and those who employ them. But no one was more effective at drawing attention to the law’s foibles than former dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, who at one point promised to release a little black book of high-profile politicians who have employed her and the ladies who share her profession.
Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (left) stands next to his brother Doug in this Friday November 21, 2014 file photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)
From former Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s entrance into rehab after the discovery of a second video of him smoking crack, to his diagnosis with cancer and his brother Doug Ford’s entry into Toronto’s mayoral race, the family Ford kept up with the Kardashians when it comes to headline-generating stunts. Now that Rob is only a councillor and Doug has stepped away from politics, let’s hope 2015 brings the Ford family a little less notoriety.
Liberals re-surging across Canada
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in a file photo. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press/Files)
From Kathleen Wynne’s unexpected win in Ontario to Brian Gallant’s victory in New Brunswick to Justin Trudeau’s continued dominance of the federal polling numbers, it was a good year to be a Liberal in Canada. Whether 2015 will bring the once-natural-governing party back to federal power is less clear, but provincial fortunes show the Big Red Tent has yet to fold.
The image released by the European Space Agency ESA on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 shows an artist rendering by the ATG medialab depicting lander Philae separating from Rosetta mother spaceship(AP Photo/ESA, ATG Medialab)
Humanity landed a rocket on a comet 10 years away. Forget the shirt, that’s a moment to remember.
4chan’s founder, best known as Moot. (Photo for The Washington Post by Helayne Seidman)
From a massive leak of nude celebrity photos to GamerGate, everyone was talking about 4Chan this year, even people who really didn’t understand the online posting board is just that, a posting board and community, not some nefarious hacker or organization.
Hey, if Queen Bey dances in front of a giant sign, it’s news. But it wasn’t just celebrities; Time once referred to 2014 as “the year of Roxane Gay,” whose Bad Feminist took off alongside many other feminist writings and songs. Emma Watson delivered a stirring speech to the U.N. on the subject and hashtags galore promoted feminist ideals, from #BringBackOurGirls to prompt action for the hundreds captured by Boko Haram in Nigeria to #YesAllWomen to shed light on street harassment and sexual harassment.
Hashtags
(Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)
Yes, 2014 was the year of hashtag activism, and not just related to feminism. There was aforementioned #GamerGate; #CancelColbert over a poorly truncated joke sent out in a tweet; a number related to police violence against unarmed black people in the United States, and most recently #IllRideWithYou in response to the Sydney hostage-taking.
Airplanes
Malaysian investigators along with members of the OSCE mission in Ukraine, examine a piece of the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in the village of Petropavlivka, eastern Ukraine. (Dmitry Lovetsky/The Associated Press)
Mysterious or high-profile plance crashes dominated the news cycle for weeks at a time earlier this year, prompting some to wonder whether it would impact the airline industry. Months later, and no one remembers or is avoiding flying, right?
The puck hits the post with Canada’s goalie pulled in the last minutes of the game against United States during third period women’s hockey final action at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)
A goal post that saved the Canadian women’s hockey team’s hopes for gold at the Sochi Olympics got everyone talking, but so did the gold-and-silver winning Dufour-Lapointe sisters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leaders of ex-Soviet states during a meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service)
From the Olympics and its controversies over gay rights to the incursions into the Ukraine to his birthday, Putin kept making the news this year, and not in a good way.
Source:: canada.com
